It's the Best Time of the Year
by Yougottaeatdembeanz
Summary: Marinette hosts a Christmas party for her class, in which there is a mistletoe mishap and a very sweet realization. One shot, fluff, Alya and Nino conspiracy, and more! ;)


Marinette leaned against the counter of the bakery, munching on a macaroon and awaiting her parents' answer. Contrary to her usual attire, she wore black leggings and a light blue coat with white fur trim, and her hair was pulled back in a loose bun. It was Saturday, and she had felt like changing up the monotony.

That was also the reason that she had requested to have a Christmas party at the bakery the following weekend. She wanted to make Christmas cookies and decorate the tree for the front window, with Christmas music and mistletoe... Her mind wandered with the possibilities.

Her attention returned with a snap when her father started talking.

"Well, I don't see why we couldn't close the bakery for one afternoon, if we put up notice. Just make sure you help clean up afterward, okay, Mari?"

Marinette ran up to her dad and gave him a big hug around the neck. "Of course, Papa! You're the best!"

She hugged her mom, too, then headed up to her room to begin designing the invitations. Cute little Santas, maybe some holly and lace...

On Monday, at school, she realised with a start that she hadn't really decided who to invite. She had made more than enough invitations; in fact, she had gotten rather carried away, and probably had enough for two classes!

At break, she walked out of the classroom with Alya. "Should I just invite everyone? I mean, I kind of want to, except for Chloe... But that would be rude, and then Chloe would get angry and make my life even more miserable, and if I don't invite Chloe, then I should choose someone else to not come, so it doesn't look so bad. What should I do?"

Alya just laughed. "Girl, it's your party, you just have to do what you want to!"

Marinette sighed. "You're right..."

By the end of class, everyone had an invitation, including Chloe. Marinette beat herself up about it both ways until she finally just threw two invitations on Chloe's desk as she passed. With any luck, Chloe would be too snobbish to come to Marinette's party anyway.

All week, Marinette planned. She asked Nino to put together a Christmas playlist, and invited Alya over early to help decorate. She made decorations all week, and made sure to buy a bough of mistletoe to hang in the kitchen.

She spent hours imagining Adrien and herself happening to meet beneath the bough, gazing into each other's eyes, and... She shook her head and got back to work weaving a wreath. It was Friday evening and almost everything was in place.

Saturday morning, Marinette rose bright and early and made herself a bowl of cinnamon oatmeal, with a mug of hot chocolate on the side. Alya was due at nine o'clock, and Marinette didn't know what to do with herself until then. She had promised not to start decorating until Alya arrived, so she went upstairs and tried to work on a design she had started the previous week. She couldn't concentrate, so she got onto her computer and started looking at pictures of good Christmas party decor. The hours passed, and before she knew it, Alya was popping her head through the trapdoor.

"Hey, girl! You ready to start decorating?"

"Hi Alya! Yeah, I've got some great ideas, too!" Marinette jumped up from the desk and headed for the trapdoor.

The girls went down to the bakery kitchen and proceeded to hang garlands and other decorations. Finally, Marinette picked up the mistletoe. Alya looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Wow, Marinette, got some plans, do you?" Alya's voice held a note of disbelief.

Marinette blushed. "Oh, you know, it's just tradition."

"Right, girl. Right." Alya nodded. "Keep telling yourself that."

Marinette swiftly tacked the mistletoe over the door that led from the bakery kitchen to the back room, then turned around and smiled at Alya. "Ready to get baking? We have to have five dozen cookies before the party, ready to decorate!"

"Right on, girl!"

They mixed ingredients, rolled dough, and cut cookies until their arms hurt. Finally, after lunch, they had a rack of five dozen golden brown sugar cookies cooling in the back room, and they began cleaning up the mess and setting out bowls of multicolored icing and tins of sprinkles. In two hours, the guests would begin to arrive, and the fun would begin.

At one-thirty, the doorbell jingled and the girls looked up to find Nino walking in.

"I'm ready to set up the sound," he announced. "I've got all kinds of music, traditional and contemporary, instrumental... Dude, I've got Jagged Stone's new Christmas Special, too!"

The girls both began talking at once. "How'd you get it? It's not going to be released until Wednesday! That's so cool!"

Nino wiggled his eyebrows. "I've got connections. Now where can I set up?"

Christmas music was playing, and the three were chatting amiably together when the bell jingled again, and Chloe walked in with Sabrina.

She looked down her nose at the bowls of icing, then sniffed. "Are we going to be making _cookies_?" She said the word 'cookies' as if that were the most disgusting thing on earth.

Alya stepped up, hands on her hips. "Yeah, Chloe. It's called 'fun'. Do you need a dictionary?"

Chloe sighed. "I suppose I can stay for a little while." She glanced around distastefully, then asked, "Is Adrien invited?"

Alya and Marinette frowned at each other, then Marinette answered slowly, "Yeah, but you know how his schedule is. He probably won't even make it."

Chloe sniffed again. She looked up when the door jingled, and squealed. "Adrikens, you made it!" Dashing up to him, she hugged him around the neck and kissed his cheek. Sabrina, who walked in behind Adrien, waved timidly. Chloe ignored her.

Soon after, everyone else started arriving. They began to set up the Christmas tree, with lively chatter and enough Christmas cheer to satisfy the pickiest of Santa's elves.

The only people who lacked Christmas cheer were Adrien, who had Chloe's constant stream of conversation in his ear, Marinette, who eyed them enviously, and Alya, who saw Marinette's frustration.

With the lights and ornaments on the tree, Marinette turned her attention to the next task. "Alya, I'm going to go get the baking rack. Make sure everything goes smoothly?"

"Yeah, no prob," Alya answered. Then she grinned. "Hold up, wait here a sec."

She ran up to Nino and whispered something in his ear. He grinned and nodded, then headed for Adrien. Marinette heard him say something about icing and pants, and Chloe's eyes widened.

"Sabrina!" Chloe wailed. "Come with me!" She marched up to Marinette. "Where's the bathroom?"

Marinette pointed, confused. She didn't notice Nino talking to Adrien, but when Chloe left, Marinette turned back to Alya.

"Was that it? Can I go get the cookies now?"

"Just a second."

Adrien walked up. "Hey Marinette! Nino says you need help getting something?"

This time Marinette's eyes widened. She nodded wordlessly, then led the way.

In the background, Nino and Alya smirked at each other as they fistbumped. Alya sneaked around the room and ended up very near the doorway that Adrien and Marinette were passing through.

"Hey, guys," she whispered. They looked up and she gestured to the mistletoe. "Looks like you're trapped!"

Marinette's face was peony red, and Adrien looked a little confused. Then a look of realization crossed his face, and he began to turn pink, too.

"Don't worry, no one's looking," Alya chuckled, then turned her back.

"Um," Marinette said. "I, um, well there's c-c-cookies, and we c-can go get them, they're for, to deco--I mean, there's frosting, and..." she cut off abruptly when Adrien grabbed her hand.

"Do you mind?"

She squeaked.

Adrien leaned forward, eyes closed. Marinette's eyes were frozen open, the size of dinner plates.

A shriek split the air. "ADRIEN? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Too late, Nino came up to Alya. "Sorry, she got out earlier than I was expecting..."

Adrien and Marinette had sprung apart at the sound of Chloe's voice. They were blushing furiously, and both were trying to stammer out excuses. Alya marched up and took Marinette's hand, dragging her into the back room

"Come on, Mari. Let's get those cookies."

Adrien spun around and followed them. They grabbed the tall rack and wheeled it out into the kitchen, where Alya took charge.

"All right, everyone! Grab some cookies and get decorating! You can keep all the cookies you decorate! Come on!"

Chloe rolled her eyes, and loudly announced that she was leaving. "Who wants to make cookies like some kid anyway?" She snatched Sabrina's hand and led her to the door. Sabrina looked like she wished she could stay, but she didn't protest.

A few minutes later, Alya whispered to Marinette, "Hey, girl, we're almost out of sprinkles. You got any in the back room?"

"Um, yeah, let me go look." Marinette headed for the door. When she arrived, she began searching the shelves. There were no sprinkles to be found. That was odd, she knew there were sprinkles there earlier!

A shadow fell across the shelf she was searching through, and Marinette looked up. Standing before her was a very uncomfortable looking Adrien.

"Alya asked me to come in here and tell you we need to make some more frosting, too. She asked me to help you."

Both Adrien and Marinette were still blushing, and Marinette stammered something about finding the icing sugar. As she turned around, she could have sworn she heard a very annoyed voice whisper, "The idiots." Then, a very frantic hushing noise.

She glanced over her shoulder, and Adrien was very nonchalantly staring at a tin of cocoa. She frowned, then picked up a bag of sugar. "Here it is," she announced. "Let's go to the kitchen to make the icing. I'll have to tell Alya I couldn't find the sprinkles."

She was focusing so hard on not looking at Adrien, that she didn't even stutter once. She heard Tikki faintly giggle from her purse, but she ignored her.

As she reached the door, holding the bag of sugar, Marinette felt a hand on her shoulder. She glanced up right as Adrien leaned down, and the kiss meant for her cheek ended up in a very different place.

For the second time that day, Adrien and Marinette sprung apart, blushing madly.

"I-I'm so sorry, Marinette, that wasn't what I meant to do, I should have asked, I'm so sorry!" Adrien stuttered.

Marinette opened her mouth to answer, but she was drowned out by the sound of cheering.

"Finally!" Alya ran up to Marinette and hugged her. The whole roomful of teenagers had erupted when Adrien kissed Marinette, and it didn't show signs of settling down any time soon.

"Never mind about the frosting," Alya said, grinning. Then she turned back to the tables of cookies. Everyone got back to work, but the room was still buzzing with excitement.

Marinette glanced at Adrien out of the corner of her eye, and found him looking at her. She quickly looked away and spoke softly. "It's OK, I didn't mind."

A look of realization crossed Adrien's face, and he asked, "You don't?"

A small giggle escaped her. "Not at all."

 ** _XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO_**

 **Epilogue** :

That was the day Adrien discovered that his unfading, unparalleled, fiercely loyal love for Ladybug, though still unfading, became very paralleled, and much less loyal. It confused him to no end, and after much anguished complaining to Plagg, Plagg grew fed up.

"Adrien, you're an idiot," Plagg said. He had been watching Merlin recently, and admired Arthur immensely.

Adrien rolled his eyes. "So you've told me."

"I'm going out for a bit." With that, Plagg disappeared. A moment later, he returned with a smug grin on his face. "Wait for it."

A moment later, Ladybug landed on the windowsill. Adrien scrambled to his feet, stammering a welcome, and trying clumsily to open the window. When Ladybug finally got inside, she looked around cconfusedly.

"So... Why'd Tikki tell me to come here," she finally asked.

Adrien shrugged.

Plagg floated up. "Tikki and I have decided."

Adrien shrieked. "Plagg, stop! Go away!" But it was too late.

"Tikki, come on. Let's get this over with." Plagg managed to sound bored and annoyed at the same time.

Suddenly Ladybug detransformed, and let out a little cry of surprise.

Adrien looked at her for a moment, then nodded, smiling. "Now I understand."


End file.
